Last night when I got home our Kitty "Alfalfa" just didnt seem right. When I got home he wasn't at the door as usual. So I went looking for him. He wasnt in his usual spots. Then my foster daughter found him laying under the coffee table. I picked him up and he was not well, so I rushed him to the vet. The vet examined him and said he was jaundice and that it was probably his liver. They gave him fluids and anti biotics. I took him home and kept an eye on him. The vet said to page him if Alfie got worse. But he seemed the same, sleeping in front of the fireplace. When I woke up a few hours later he was Dead. I was sooooooooooooooooo Upset. Luckily my daughter wasn't home. So I took Alfie to my work. In the morning they will do a necrospy and then cremate him.

I then went to pick my daughter up from him Grand Parents. When I told her About her cat she cried and cried. Then she told me she felt guilty for not being home and that if she were home maybe her cat would still be alive. She then asked to see him which I couldnt do because I didnt have him. (plus I didnt think it was a good idea) When we got home she searched the house for him and then she called for him. Madison asked if she could write Alfie a letter, so we spent the night drawing him pictures. Maddy asked me how we were going to get the pictures and letters to alfie, and I didnt have an answer so I said Ill have to ask Nana (her grandmother). She went and thought about it and then came back to me and said that id she prayed hard enough maybe god would come get the letters for alfie. I almost lost my composure. He really was a great cat And we will all miss him.

He was pals with the dogs, people, other cats but most of all he was my daughters best friend. Rest in peace my sweet alfie boy.

Something to consider, when someone has passed and we wish to send them messages, we gather in the circle with a fire in a caldron or fire circle. We write little messages on pieces of paper and put them into the flames so that the wind will carry the ashes/messages to our loved one.

We even burn branches from certain types of trees that have an attribute or an association with the message we wish to send.

Our friends lost their dog Druid and when he cremated ashes came back, they built a small fire with them and then sent him on his way to the summerlands with their messages of love.

While this is a pagan type ceremony, many of my Christian friends find comfort in simply taking a large candle outside and burning their messages so that the winds will carry them to their loved ones in heaven.

I had a necropsy done on Alfie and they found that his liver was a mess and he died form Liver failure. I did not opt to have a biopsy done as it was costly and it of course wouldn't bring sweet Alfie back. Thank you all for your kind words.

Thank you all for the well wishes. I gave Madison her kitty's ashes today and she looked at it and thanked me for putting him in such a pretty tin. Then she put him on the entertainment stand and there he sits

Good Bye Dear One.. Maybe you could tell your daughter that one day, she will be with her beloved Cat, when she is much older, and her times comes, Alfie will be waiting for her, and then they will enter Heaven together.

Something to consider, when someone has passed and we wish to send them messages, we gather in the circle with a fire in a caldron or fire circle. We write little messages on pieces of paper and put them into the flames so that the wind will carry the ashes/messages to our loved one.

my best friend was killed in a car accident 10yrs ago, + her birthday was December 31st.. so every new years, we all get helium balloons, write little messages/notes on paper, + then stick them inside the balloons.. + let them go. same concept, i guess. it helps.

-Randi.

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body; but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

I like the balloons idea.
We had Smitty cremated and will tuck letters into the box when it arrives (ordered from Dr. Foster and Smith with an engraved Cocker on it). I let Tyler see the ashes and even at 14 (almost 15) he was taken aback - he said "It doesn't look like him! It looks like pebbles and shells!" He seemed disappointed as if he expected the cremains to somehow resemble Smitty I felt so bad for him. The kids miss him more, I think, than I did...